Kate
Brown has worked as a potter for all her adult life. Her
first touch of clay at age 19 assured her this was the substance
her hands were waiting for. Her formative apprenticeship
at Jugtown Pottery in Seagrove, North Carolina in the early
1970s set her goal to work as a rural potter. She still
draws inspiration from earthenware traditions: the Anglo-American
potters of the former British colonies, and that of the
Mexican-American borderlands, where she has made her home
for the past 25 years. In 1983 she established her studio
Kate Brown Pottery in its present location in Southwest
New Mexico. She added tile to her production in 1994.

Kate has become a master of slip-decorated, clear-glazed
terra cotta ware. She is currently experimenting with glaze
color and texture over her slips. She says, “I love
clay and working with clay slips. I mix them from my own
recipe and I enjoy their creamy sensual texture. They are
painterly and they move like clay.”

Over the years, she has made thousands of pots. Many of
these pieces have an intimate place in the every day lives
and celebrations of their owners. Throughout her years of
production, Kate has focused on the clay as a canvas. Her
patterns reflect her life in foothills near the Gila wilderness:
plants, animals, sky and human forms, bold and loose. She
is preparing for her 40th anniversary show At What’s
a Pot Shop in Silver City, New Mexico, Oct 2006, working
on a body of tile paintings. These pieces are the current
expression of her long love affair with clay.

Tile-making
Workshops

Four
times a year, once a season, I offer One Day Intensive Tile-Making
classes in my studio to share what I have learned. Usually
the classes fall in January, April, July, October. Limit
eight per class. $95 to make tiles from a 16"x20"
slab. Class times are 9am - 5pm, held in my studio in the
Mimbres.